Songwriting Challenge: Songs from Nothing
Required Equipment:
- Guitar (or another instrument you can play)
- Any recording device
Required Skills:
- Be able to play two notes
- Songs from Nothing is one of the easiest ways to start writing a song right now, even if you don’t have any ideas and don’t feel at all inspired. Believe it or not, you don’t need either of those things. This game will allow you to tap into your limitless creativity using a very special motivator: boredom. Don’t worry, it won’t be boring for long. We’ll use a recording device to record what we create, so we can listen to it afterwards and pick out the best parts to create an awesome song.
How to Play
Step 1: Set up your recording device so it will pick up whatever music you make, and start it recording.
Step 2: Pick any two notes on the guitar. Don’t spend too much time picking the two notes, because it really doesn’t matter which ones (no two notes by themselves will sound amazing). This can be as simple as playing two different open strings, or playing one string on two different frets. If you’re still having trouble, try playing just the first two notes of a song you already know.
Step 3: Start playing those notes, and keep repeating them. Just those two! Keep going. This is going to get boring fast, but that’s going to be a good thing.
Step 4: Let yourself veer off course. As mentioned, playing just two notes will get boring quickly. So if you add in a third, suddenly change your rhythm, or go in a completely different direction, that’s good! Let it happen. This is where the creating starts. Just let your curiosity run wild, and try not to edit or criticize what you’re doing. Keep going as long as you are enjoying it.
Step 5: After stopping, listen to your recording. Chances are parts of it will not be great (even virtuoso musicians feel this way about their recordings), and parts of it will be okay, but not that engaging to you. But parts will be really interesting. Make a note of those parts. Try to re-play them on the guitar and write down the guitar tabs or music notation for them. These can be seeds for some really wonderful songs!